One simple statement—“I’m very happy with my position and I’m not going anywhere” —and that would be that. Ryan could kick back into his CEO role and the Rangers could return their focus to reaching another postseason. No more speculation about a front-office power shift would be necessary.

“Nolan is just not talking right now,” a Rangers spokesman said Tuesday morning.

Sometimes silence says a lot.

Until Ryan refutes the Star-Telegram report, the Rangers will remain in danger of derailing the greatest run in franchise history. Since Ryan was named club president in 2008, the Rangers reached the World Series for the first time (winning back-to-back AL pennants in 2010 and 2011), they landed one of those humongous local TV deals, and their attendance has soared, topping 3 million for the first time in 2012.

If Ryan departed on bad terms, you can be sure attendance would drop, TV ratings would decline and revenue would diminish. What has become one of baseball’s best-run franchises would be left picking up the pieces from a PR fiasco.

A fiasco that seems to have been created by nothing but good intentions. When the club announced this past Friday that general manager Jon Daniels would be promoted to president of baseball operations and COO Rick George to president of business operations, ownership appeared to be showing its appreciation for jobs done well.

Giving Daniels an upgraded title hopefully would keep him from entertaining offers from other teams as well as pave the way for his top assistant, Thad Levine, to someday assume the title of general manager.

Ryan seemed to be on board with the changes in the release.

“I want to congratulate Jon and Rick on their promotions as the organization moves forward with a tremendous group of employees to achieve an even greater level of excellence in 2013 and in the years to come,” he said.

In the release, ownership made a point of recognizing Ryan even as it promoted Daniels and George.

“Under Nolan Ryan’s leadership over the last five years, the Rangers organization has made enormous strides both on and off the field,” said co-chairman Ray Davis and Bob Simpson. “On the baseball side, Nolan has helped Jon Daniels develop into one of the game’s top executives. Off the field, Rick George has worked with Nolan to find new ways to drive growth and make sure our fan experience is among the best in baseball.”

Even more important, the announcement also states that the newly named presidents will “continue to oversee the day-to-day operations under the leadership of Nolan Ryan.”

So two deserving men receive promotions and Ryan not only remains their boss, he no longer has to spend as much of his time on the more mundane day-to-day tasks of running a ball club. Yet somehow, a hullabaloo is rocking the Metroplex.

First question: How? First answer: No one knows. If Daniels and Ryan have had any on-going differences, they haven’t surfaced. Their front office has appeared to be the model for balancing old-school views with new-wave thinking.

One possibility: When ownership named Daniels president of baseball operations, it took the title away from Ryan. Yet it left him with the title that trumps all others, CEO.

Another possibility: With the promotion, Daniels now owns final say in all baseball decisions. The release, however, states that the leadership team is still “led by Nolan,” implying that he still holds ultimate authority.

Here we get to the crux of the controversy. According to what sources told the Star-Telegram, Daniels and George now have the ultimate say in their respective departments. Translation: Ryan has been stripped of his power.

If indeed Ryan has lost a power struggle, the Rangers are headed for trouble. Ryan isn’t the type to be a figurehead leader. Considering what he has done for the Rangers and who he is in baseball (and Texas), he shouldn’t have to be subjected to anything that hints of a lack of respect.

But from what Simpson told the Star-Telegram, Ryan hasn’t lost any of his standing.

“My definition of CEO is it’s the person in charge,” Simpson said. “Nolan Ryan will still make the anything-of-significance decisions and bring those to owners for approval. I say significant decisions because we wanted to remove some of the day-to-day stuff from Nolan.”

Whether Ryan believes this is another matter. On one hand, there is his quote in the release applauding the promotions. On the other, there are the sources in the Star-Telegram. The author of the report was Randy Galloway, a longtime Dallas-area columnist who knows Ryan as well as anyone in the media.

Galloway said in his story that he hasn’t talked to Ryan about this. Galloway says that he began wondering if something in the Rangers’ front office had gone awry when he read Friday’s release and found it sounding like a tribute to Ryan. Tributes aren’t typically given unless something is ending.

If Ryan’s run with the Rangers is coming to a close, no one really knows. But by not saying anything, you have to believe Ryan is at least considering the possibility.